Women and Substance Abuse (Why?)

Chapter 14 and the DSM IV defines substance abuse as “a maladaptive pattern of substance use manifested by recurrent and significant adverse consequences related to the repeated use of substances” (Ashman, 4th edition 2013, pg. 442).

When researching my paper I decided to find the differences, if any, between women and male substance abusers. While researching for the ERA capstone project we did for human services, I found that causes of addiction in women was due to poverty, abuse, lack of resources and other reasons that all can be contributed to inequality of women in our society. The main reason women become addicted is due to self-medicating. I had a range of questions I began asking myself, and decided to do more research. Then I finally asked myself, “Why are women becoming increasing addicted?” In a newsletter by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, “Alcoholic women are more likely to report a history of child physical and emotional abuse than women who were non-alcoholics. Women who have been abused are fifteen times more likely to abuse alcohol and nine times more likely to abuse drugs, than women who have not been abused (NCADC). Butler Research stated, another problem is that women who have a substance abuse problem, 82% have a mental health disorder compared to 68% of males in the same program.

Women who suffer from substance abuse also have a higher rate of traumatic stressors and events. These events include sexual and physical abuse, accidents, disruption in family life, and sudden physical illnesses (Bradley, Ashley, Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). Women are also more likely than men to have recent physical, sexual, or mental abuse. Female treatment clients report more proble...

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...lina, Director of Mental Health for Women’s Justice Services, Cook County Sheriff’s Department.

This chart is from SAMSHA 2008 November/December newsletter:

This chart is from SAMSHA website:

This 2002 chart from The DASIS Report illustrates what substances women use compared to men.

Figure 1. Primary Substance of Abuse among Female and Male Treatment Admissions: 2002

Works Cited

Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare, Ashman, 4th edition 2013 http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/PrescriptionPainkillerOverdoses/ file:///C:/Users/Joyce/Downloads/BCRUpdate_WomenSubstanceAbuse0411.pdf http://www.ncadv.org/files/SubstanceAbuse.pdf http://www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2012SummNatFindDetTables/NationalFindings/NSDUHresults2012.htm http://www.samhsa.gov/samhsaNewsletter/Volume_16_Number_6/CallToAction.aspx http://www.samhsa.gov/data/WomenTX/WomenTX.htm#1.1.4